Second Chances
by Phoenix Rises
Summary: Charlie and Claire had finally found each other after all the events of island. This is the story of their life together when they are reunited. CharlieXClaire. Rated M for safety.
1. Reunion

Chapter One-Reunion

Staring out into the crowd, Charlie Pace could barely believe his eyes. There was something oddly familiar about the young, heavily pregnant blonde woman sitting at the circular table in the center of the room, right in the center of his vision. She knew he was looking right at him; the nervous glances gave her away. But she could not look away from him, either, despite her obviously being uncomfortable with his blatant staring.

He knew it was not polite to stare, but he could not look away from her, try as he might. Something inside him was being drawn to her, and he could not think of what it was. As far as his memory could carry him, he had never seen this beautiful girl in his turbulent, troubled life, so there seemed to be no reason as to why he should feel like he had known her before. Not just known her, but almost as if they had a deeper connection, something intimate and strangely familiar, tugging at the very fabric of Charlie's soul, begging him to remember, coaxing him to go over to her, no matter the job he had to do or the occasion that had brought them together.

"You ready to do this, baby bro?" Charlie's older brother, Liam Pace had brought him out of his reverie. Reluctantly, he tore his eyes away from the girl. He was setting up his guitar's amp, ready the start the one time only reunion of DriveShaft, the once-upon-a-time of the Pace brothers. It was disconcerting for Charlie to see his big brother not off his face from either cocaine or alcohol. He had decided long ago to get clean in order to keep his marriage together and keep his little girl, baby Megan who was now two years old. He had always refused Charlie's begging to resume the success of the band, but he had refused. He had settled in Australia with Karen and Megan, all remnants of his former life gone. But he had been finally convinced to do one last reunion show for a birthday function of the very rich surgeon, Jack Shepherd, after being offered a very large sum of money that each member of the band could not refuse.

"I was born ready," he grinned at his older brother. Liam grinned back, but Charlie could see a hint of concern in his eyes as he turned away to finish the pre-show ritual. Charlie knew the cause of the concern. Liam had walked in on Charlie drinking by himself backstage. This happened often lately. Liam had constantly tried to get his little brother help, as it was hard watching your younger sibling destroy themselves slowly. Charlie had always told him to bugger off, sometimes calmly and sometimes angrily. Charlie could not understand why he refused Liam's help, because deep down, Charlie did want help. He wanted someone to see himself as someone other than the rock star or the bass player or the drug addict that the media made him out to be. But despite the offers and the want to change, Charlie could not stop the decent into self-destruction. It was almost as if he woke up one day and was compelled to drink and take drugs. He could not find a purpose strong enough to make him want to change.

Charlie turned back to the audience then, and his attention had once again become fixated on the blonde girl. She was chatting and laughing with a woman with dark curly hair tied back into a tight bun. They were the only occupants of their table. The guest of honor, Dr. Sheppard had disappeared with his son, and these two women were left at their table. Charlie had no idea how they were related to the doctor, but they obviously knew him to be seated at his table. Charlie could see the blonde girl's flickering glances in his direction.

Suddenly, she cried out in pain, and clutched at her stomach. The dark haired lady laid a concerned hand on her arm. Charlie saw the girl get up from her seat with difficulty and walk off with her companion in the direction of the rooms backstage hurriedly. Charlie watched them go in concern. He had an urge to follow them, to see what was wrong.

"I'll be right back," he said to Liam, who nodded.

He found them in the room he had occupied earlier. The blonde girl was sitting on the very couch that he had been laying on earlier, too. The lady with the dark hair was kneeling before her, trying to calm her as she breathed deeply.

"I don't know if I can hold him in, Kate," she gasped, trying to breathe properly. Charlie was surprised to discover that she had an Australian accent. Hearing her beautiful voice only triggered his sense of familiarity with this girl, who was apparently, going into labour.

"You have to try, sweetie," Kate was telling her, soothing her. "Try while I go and find Jack. Can you do that for me?"

The girl nodded after a second.

"Is everything alright here?" Charlie spoke finally.

The girls looked up at him. Kate stood up, looking slightly relieved. "Not really, but you can do me a favour? Can you stay with her while I go and get help?"

Charlie looked down at the girl. She stared at him while trying to get her breathing even. She looked so vulnerable. Charlie found he could not refuse.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, finding his voice quite strong. Normally, this sort of thing scared the living daylights out of him.

"Great, thanks," Kate said hurriedly as she rushed out of the room.

It was just Charlie and the mysterious girl.

"Hi there," he began, making his way over to her nervously.

"Hi,' she gasped.

He knelt down beside her. "Not to worry, I've seen this sort of thing before. You just have to get your breathing right, you know, one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi." To his pleasure, his demonstration made her laugh.

"Ah, there you go, I made you laugh. My good deed done for the day," he smiled.

Before she could reply, she cried out in pain and clutched at her stomach again. Charlie offered his hand to her.

"It's alright, it's alright," he soothed, "take my hand and squeeze if you have to."

The moment he felt her touch, everything became clear to Charlie.

Images flashed in his head. _It was them, on an island…There was imaginary peanut butter…she was pregnant, just like now…Losing her to Ethan, getting her back again…his presence at the birth of her baby boy, just like now…Their separation as he lost her trust…Getting her trust back…Their first kiss…His drowning death, when she was the one thing that flashed before his eyes before he lost consciousness forever…_

Charlie came back into the present. He felt tears springing in his eyes as he looked down at her. Her hand was still in his and she had tears forming in her blue eyes. In this moment, Charlie knew that the feeling he had earlier was correct. They did have a deep connection, they did know each other. They knew each other from a different time or reality apparently (Charlie had no recollection of the island at all), and it seemed like they were meant to be together. They seemed like they were truly in love, wherever they were, and whatever their situation was. And Charlie felt exactly the same way about this girl as the Charlie in his vision had, almost as if the two entities had become one and loved the same girl from each reality.

One name came to his lips as the tears overflowed onto his cheeks and he reached out to cradle the girl's head in his hands.

"Claire?" He did not know where he got the name from, but there was something familiar about the name, and somehow he knew that this was her name.

Tears had overflowed her cheeks too. "Charlie?" she asked in disbelief.

Charlie smiled. "Yeah," he breathed, letting the tears flow freely. Amid her pain, Claire reached out and touched his face. His eyes closed serenely at her touch. He felt his world coming back together, and realized that Claire was what he had been missing all these years; she was his missing puzzle piece.

He opened his eyes, leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, vowing silently to never let her go.

"Claire!" The doctor had arrived. He nodded to Charlie as he hurried in. "Kate told me what going on. How far apart are the contractions?"

Claire gave him the necessary information amid her pain and panting, all the time clutching Charlie's hand until Charlie could almost feel the life being squeezed from his fingers.

Kate had told the guests waiting for them that the party would be postponed until the next night as a result of Claire's giving birth. And two hours later, Claire had a beautiful baby boy resting in her arms.

Everyone huddled around Claire and the baby, admiring. Charlie was astonished to see that the baby lying in Claire's arms was the same baby from the vision they shared.

"What are you going to call him?" Kate asked proudly.

"Aaron," Claire said instantly. She looked at Charlie and smiled. He returned the smile.

A few minutes later, Charlie found himself in conversation with the doctor.

"You're from the band, right?"

"Yeah, Charlie Pace," he held out his hand to Jack.

"Jack Shephard." He shook hands with Charlie. "Look, thanks so much for your help. I don't know what my sister would have done without you for support."

Charlie looked at him in astonishment. "Claire's your sister?"

"Yes," he nodded. "There's only so much that my wife and I can do to help her while in labour, so your support was a huge help to Claire, and to Aaron of course." He smiled after a second.

"Well, happy to be of service," Charlie smiled genuinely. He turned to look at Claire. She was cradling her little bundle of joy while he slept. The moment their eyes connected, Charlie walked over to her side.


	2. Familiarity

Chapter Two-Familiarity

Claire smiled as Charlie came and sat down next to her on the couch. Her hair was matted with sweat and she was flushed from the labour, but she had never felt better. She finally had her baby that she had desired for so long in her arms, and she had finally found the person that she felt she had a profound connection with.

This stranger, Charlie, didn't feel like a stranger at all. She had never felt like this about anyone in her life. She had loved before but this felt final, absolute, and she found she loved it. She felt like she had known Charlie forever, yet she knew so little. She couldn't wait to get started getting to know him.

"How are you feeling?" Charlie asked her, his English voice quiet.

"Oh, wonderful!" she enthused. "You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this little guy to come. And he's s beautiful, what more could I ask for?"

"Just like his mother." The words left Charlie's mouth before he knew what was happening.

They stared at each other for half a second and Claire looked down at Aaron, flushed with embarrassment at Charlie's compliment.

"Thanks," she muttered quietly.

"You're quite welcome," was the reply.

After a minute of comfortable silence, Claire turned back to him. With one hand she held out her hand in introduction. "Claire Littleton," she smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Claire," he shook her hand cheekily, "I'm Charlie Pace."

His warm touch sent chills of pleasure over Claire's skin, and she found she wanted more. How could someone she just met (again) have this kind of power over her?

"It was quite a night for you, eh?" Charlie smirked, making Claire's heart skip a few beats.

"Absolutely," she smiled back. After a few seconds, Claire continued, "So, did you get that…vision thing…" she trailed off, watching him closely.

He nodded, a thoughtful look crossing his face."Yeah, there were all sorts of things. But all that made sense was…us." His eyes connected with Claire's at that word.

Claire response was just to stare into his grey blue eyes. She found herself being lost in them, in the pools of warm liquid that were his eyes.

Charlie smiled at her. "Look, I realize that this probably isn't necessary, given the experience that we just shared, but I want to do this properly. Claire, would you like to go on a date with me?"

Claire smiled in response. "You don't even have to ask." With that she leaned towards him and planted a light, lingering kiss on his lips.

Charlie felt his breath stop short in his throat. Immediately, he flashed back.

_It was him and Claire, presumably on the island, sharing an intimate kiss, with what seemed like a sad edge to it. Like Charlie was saying goodbye, and Claire didn't know it._

He felt pained at the idea that he had left Claire for whatever reason on the island. All he knew is, he never wanted to do that again.

They broke apart, but their faces remained close together. Charlie's opened. Claire's crystal blue eyes were boring into his tenderly.

"What was that for?" he breathed, a small smile playing upon his lips.

"Well, seemingly as we already know each other, I don't think the normal dating rules apply." She smiled slightly at him.

"Oh well, amen to that," Charlie responded and kissed her back lightly.

Claire's heart stopped at the tender exchange between them. Every minute she spent with Charlie, was every minute that she was certain that this was her path: to be with him and Aaron.

At that moment, Jack walked in. "Hey, Claire, we're heading off. You and Aaron ready to go?"

Claire glanced over at Charlie with reluctance. "Uh, yeah, I guess."

"Alright, well, I'll meet you out the front," Jack smiled tiredly, nodded at Charlie and then retreated out the door.

Claire looked at Charlie. "Well, this is it."

"Can I call you?"

"Of course you can!" Claire wrote her number down on his hand. "I'm staying with Jack and Kate at the moment, so you can reach me there."

Charlie nodded and smiled. "Cool. Shall I walk you out?" he asked, standing up and offering her his hand.

"That would be lovely," she replied, imitating his English accent. Charlie grinned as she took his hand and he helped her up. It seemed like they had known each other forever and they were falling back into the same familiar patterns.

Charlie saw her to the car, and waved as the Shephard's SUV drove off into the night. He watched the backlights disappear around the corner, then he smiled and turned back to go inside, the feeling of Claire's lips still lingering on his.


End file.
